Ruling over £1m Dowie claim awaited

A High Court judge is due to rule on the bitterly fought £1 million compensation claim brought by Crystal Palace FC against former manager Iain Dowie.

Palace chairman Simon Jordan has accused Dowie of telling lies when he negotiated his way out of his contract with the club and joined arch rivals Charlton a year ago.

Dowie, 42, had a clause in his contract to the effect that if he left to join another club, Palace would receive £1 million.

Multi-millionaire Jordan says that, as a gesture of goodwill, he agreed to waive that clause because Dowie had stated he wanted to move nearer to his wife and family in Bolton.

Within days of leaving, Dowie was appointed manager of south London rivals Charlton - just a few miles from Selhurst Park.

Jordan, accusing Dowie of "fraudulent misrepresentation", told Mr Justice Tugendhat he would never have reached the compromise had he known he was planning to move to The Valley.

In the event, Dowie left Charlton in November after only 12 Premiership matches and is now in charge at Coventry City.

In his defence, Dowie said the compromise agreement was a "clean break" under which Palace dispensed with his services and avoided having to pay him substantial contractual entitlements exceeding £1 million.

Dowie's lawyers argued that the £1 million compensation clause in his contract was "inherently defective" because it made no provision as to where the money would come from. It merely stated that Palace would "receive" it.

In any event, the clause was unenforceable as "an unlawful restraint of trade".